Child labour

Many children work. After school hours children can help with household chores, fetch water, run errands, or look after their younger brothers and sisters. In this way they can participate in family life and contribute to the family income. In doing so they pick up useful skills, learn more about their own communities and prepare themselves for the responsibilities of adult life. “Child labour”, however, implies something different – that children are doing things that are harmful to their healthy development. They may be labouring long hours, sacrificing time and energy that they might have spent at school or at home, enjoying the free and formative experience of childhood.

The impact on a child
Crucially, children working for long hours are missing out on the vital opportunity that education provides to equip themselves with the knowledge, life skills and confidence to participate fully in the economic and social development of their communities and to improve their own lives. In the worst cases, they may be doing work that is physically, emotionally and/or psychologically dangerous, putting their young bodies and minds under terrible strain that can lead to permanent damage.

Most people would agree that some types of child work are evidently wrong – working in coal mines, or rubbish tips, or glass factories. But other cases are less clear cut. Much will depend on the age of the child: clearly there are some tasks that a child of sixteen might reasonably do that would be far more harmful for a child of six or eight.

The extent of the problem
How many child labourers are there? There will never be a definitive answer to this question, given inconsistencies in national standards and definitions as well as weaknesses in data collection. The most comprehensive global statistics on child labour come from the ILO (International Labour Organization), which estimated that in 2002, the number of children worldwide who were “economically active” – doing some type of work – amounted to 352 million. Of these, 211 million were aged 5-14. But whether this activity constitutes “child labour” depends both on the nature of the work and the age of the child. Of the 352 million economically active children, the ILO counted 246 million as “child labourers”.

Thus some 16% of the world’s children are caught up in child labour and around one in twelve children are engaged either in hazardous work or in the very worst forms of child labour. Boys and girls appear to be working to a similar extent. Girls make up around half of all child labourers, though they make up a slightly smaller proportion – around 45% – of those engaged in hazardous work.

Where are the child workers and what do they do?
Child labourers are certainly not confined to poor countries. In the industrial countries, around 2.5 million children aged 5-14 are economically active, or around 2% of the total child population. In countries with transition economies, including former socialist countries, 2.4 million children aged 5-14, or around 4% of the total child population, are economically active. Nevertheless, the largest numbers of working children are to be found in the developing world. The most serious problems are in sub-Saharan Africa where 29% of children aged 5-14 are working (48 million), followed by Asia and the Pacific (19% or 127.3 million), Latin America and the Caribbean (16% or 17.4 million), and the Middle East and North Africa (15% or 13.4 million).

These children take on a huge variety of tasks. The majority work in agriculture, which employs 70% of child workers. This is followed by 8% working in manufacturing, and a further 8% in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, hotels, and in various services. Most of the latter activities are performed in urban centres.

Why children work
Children work primarily because the environment they live in has failed to protect them from exploitation. A large number of factors interact to influence whether or not children will be working. These include:

• Persistent poverty – in overall terms, the dominant issue is poverty. In countries with an annual per capita income of $500 or less, the proportion of children who are working is usually between 30% and 60%, while for countries with incomes between $500 and $1,000, the proportion drops to between 10% and 30%.
• Economic shocks – a sudden family disaster, particularly death or illness, may force children to leave school and work. HIV/AIDS has now become a major factor, especially in Africa where over 28 million people are living with the disease. HIV/AIDS generally kills the main wage earners and shifts more of the income-earning burden to children.
• Inadequate education – there is a close link between education and child labour. Education – particularly free and compulsory education of good quality up to the minimum age for entering into employment – is a key tool in preventing child labour. Attendance at school removes children, in part at least, from the labour market. As well as laying the basis for the acquisition of employable skills needed for gainful employment, school is also a place where children can be made aware of some of the risks inherent in their interaction with unscrupulous adults. The skills acquired at school may lead directly to the sort of gainful employment that will help children rise above the poverty into which they were born – and thus make them, and their own children in turn, less exposed to exploitation. Furthermore, when children who have had the benefits of an education – particularly girls – grow up, they are more likely to make the choice of education for their own children, thus helping to reduce the future ranks of child labourers. Educated girls also marry later, have fewer unwanted pregnancies, and their children have lower infant mortality rates because of better health practices – all of which will contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty that underpins the ready supply of child labourers.
• The demand for child labour – children may be pushed into work by poverty or the lack of alternatives but they can also be pulled towards work. Employers are often keen to recruit children since they will work more cheaply than adults and are likely to be more submissive. If the “employers” are the parents, then the children’s labour is free. In addition, employers may consider that some tasks are particularly suitable for children – running errands for example.